MyGhana2027.com · Languages of Ghana · Guan
The Guan are scattered across Ghana like islands: a coastal town here, a hill village there, a stretch of the Volta further north. That pattern is the clue to their history. They are widely believed to have been on the land before the Akan, the Ga and the Ewe arrived, and the newcomers settled around them.
Guan (or Guang) is a group of related languages within the Kwa branch of Niger-Congo, cousins of Akan. Linguists divide them into a southern group near the coast and the Akuapem ridge, and a northern group along the Volta and in Gonja. The largest Guan language of all is Gonja.
From the sea at Winneba to the savannah of the north, Guan communities live among larger neighbours.
Efutu is the language of Winneba, a Guan town in the middle of the Fante coast. Awutu is spoken in the towns around Awutu-Bereku, just inland.
On the hills above Accra, the towns of Larteh and the Kyerepong communities speak Guan languages inside the Akan-speaking Akuapem state. Akuapem itself grew from an alliance of Guan and Akan peoples in the 18th century.
Along the Volta and in the Oti Region: Nkonya, Anum, Krachi, Nchumburu, Chumburung and others, around Kete-Krachi and the lake.
The biggest Guan language, spoken in the Savannah Region around Damongo, Salaga and Bole, by a kingdom founded by Mande horsemen. See Gonja.
Many Ghanaian traditions describe the Guan as already present when other peoples arrived. Ga and Dangme traditions speak of Guan on the Accra plains; Akan states absorbed Guan towns; Ewe groups settled near Guan communities in the Volta hills.
A scattered language pattern usually means an older population whose territory was later broken up by newcomers. Guan place names, shrines and priestly offices survive inside Akan, Ga and Ewe states.
Where the Guan came from, and when, is not settled. Some traditions point north along the Volta. Without written records, the answer depends on archaeology and linguistics, and both are still work in progress.
Around 3% of Ghanaians are Guan by ethnicity, according to the 2021 census, divided into many small communities. Apart from Gonja, no Guan language is among the eleven languages sponsored by the state in schools.
In many Guan towns, children grow up speaking Twi, Fante or Ewe, the bigger languages around them, and the local Guan language is used mainly by the elderly and in ritual.
Churches, Bible translators, local committees and a few university researchers have produced primers and scriptures in several Guan languages. It is slow work with little official support.
The Efutu deer-hunting festival: two Asafo companies race to catch a live antelope with bare hands to offer to their god. One of Ghana's most spectacular festivals. Aboakyer, the hunt and the heritage.
Winneba's New Year fancy-dress parades, with masked clubs competing in costume and dance, a tradition shared with other coastal towns.
Updated and fact-checked: 13 October 2026. The Guan as earliest settlers is a widely held view based on oral tradition and language distribution, not a proven date. Census figures are rounded.